Haiti’s volatile security situation is crippling aid operations in the Caribbean country, where the humanitarian needs of some 4.4 million people were rising even before President Jovenel Moïse’s assasination, with some 214,000 in the capital alone thought to be in need of emergency assistance, Jessica Obert, a journalist, based in Haiti reports in The New Humanitarian.
Turf wars between police and gangs in the capital, Port-au-Prince, have delayed aid shipments in recent weeks, while some relief groups have turned to partner organisations or air transport for deliveries. Other organisations have suspended operations, citing the violence and kidnappings.
“We regret that we are in no position to answer the needs of the people in the metropolitan area (of Port-au-Prince),” said Annalisa Lombardo, country director of German NGO Welthungerhilfe, which runs several aid programmes and provides food to 60,000 people. “The safety risk is getting shot.”
